After Tom Junker retired he and his wife spent two years in the Peace Corps in South Africa

In 2007, he created a nonprofit organization called Bantfwana Phambili, which means "children first" in Swati (a language spoken in Swaziland). The organization sponsored three students that first year, each of whom had to fill out an application and write an essay in English. "They have to have excellent math and English skills or else we don't want them," Junker said. "That may sound really mean and nasty, but the name of the game is, if they don't have those skills, no matter what else they can do, they're not going to get ahead in their country. That's the key to success." This year, Bantfwana Phambili is sponsoring 10 students - five girls and five boys - in seventh through 12th grades. Next year, six more will be helped.

Caption: South African students sponsored by Bantfwana Phambili, the charitable organization Tom Junker started after a two-year Peace Corps stint in South Africa, posed with their principal for a photo at their school. (Courtesy to Pioneer Press: David Murphy)

Tom Junker started a nonprofit to help pay kids school expenses.

After Tom Junker retired from Andersen Corp., he and his wife spent two years in the Peace Corps in South Africa. Each day, students from Vuka Primary School in Mpumalanga Province would come to the Junkers' house for tutoring. The couple got to know the kids very well.

So well, in fact, that when Junker returned home to Stillwater, he felt compelled to help.

Junker got a part-time job driving a limousine so he could send money to South Africa for the students' school fees. Without help, most of them would not attend secondary school.

But his paycheck helped only a few students, and friends encouraged him to expand his vision.

So in 2007, he created a nonprofit organization called Bantfwana Phambili, which means "children first" in Swati (a language spoken in Swaziland). The organization sponsored three students that first year, each of whom had to fill out an application and write an essay in English.

"They have to have excellent math and English skills or else we don't want them," Junker said. "That may sound really mean and nasty, but the name of the game is, if they don't have those skills, no matter what else they can do, they're not going to get ahead in their country. That's the key to success."

This year, Bantfwana Phambili is sponsoring 10 students - five girls and five boys - in seventh through 12th grades. Next year, six more will be helped.

Junker, 65, figures it costs $2,400 per student to cover school fees, uniforms and supplies through matriculation, so he is busy fundraising and making the rounds at churches and service groups in Stillwater to explain Bantfwana Phambili's mission.

Money is sent directly to a school administrator he knows "who goes with the student to the school that they are attending, and he pays the fees directly to the school," Junker said.

The hard part is determining which students to sponsor, said Mary Burke, a board member who lives in Marine on St. Croix.

"You read the essays, and you want to give money to them all because they all have hardships," she said. "They all tug at your heart. There's really that sincerity and that connection. It's hard saying no, but obviously we had to build those criteria because we could only support so many. Our goal is to raise enough money so we can support all the applications that come to us."

If not for Bantfwana Phambili, the students could not afford to go to school and would likely spend their days standing on a corner, said David Murphy, another board member. "There is very little work for folks in rural areas, so there is nothing for them to do."

Murphy, a retired teacher who lives in Stillwater Township, served in the Peace Corps in Nigeria in the 1960s and recently visited some of the students Bantfwana Phambili supports.

Murphy said the organization is working to "enhance the education of people in the country within the country. We're not sending them out to Europe or the United States or anywhere else. We're trying to bolster their educational system and create a middle class that can lead Africa. ... I think the money that we spend on these kids is well worth it."

Junker said 1.7 million school-age children in South Africa "are not going to school, and in almost all cases, it's financial. If you can't afford the uniform, you can't go to school."

If not for school, the boys would likely get into trouble and the girls would likely get pregnant, he said. "So they would never, ever rise up," he said.

"The thing that is beautiful about these kids is that until they get bigger, they still smile," he said. "These kids go to bed hungry, in many cases. But they get up in the morning, wash their face, they do their chores, and they're off to school, and they're happy."

Mary Divine can be reached at 651-228-5443.

How To Help

Checks for Bantfwana Phambili can be sent to P.O. Box 754, Stillwater, MN 55082. For more information, call Tom Junker at 651-439-8708 or e-mail him at junkersinging@hotmail.com

Director Ron Tschetter: The PCOL InterviewPeace Corps Director Ron Tschetter sat down for an in-depth interview to discuss the evacuation from Bolivia, political appointees at Peace Corps headquarters, the five year rule, the Peace Corps Foundation, the internet and the Peace Corps, how the transition is going, and what the prospects are for doubling the size of the Peace Corps by 2011. Read the interview and you are sure to learn something new about the Peace Corps. PCOL previously did an interview with Director Gaddi Vasquez.

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Story Source: Pioneer Press

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - South Africa; Older Volunteers

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